Discussions about total failure of power grid in South Africa…Very concerning…Baboons in the garden…

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Baboons always have scowls on their faces. Not pretty animals.

Yesterday, the following article popped up on my phone. After reading this, we both wondered, as we have in the past, if there was a total blackout in South Africa and how it would impact us. Our biggest concern would be figuring out a way to leave the country when most likely, the airports would be closed, especially if we couldn’t be online to conduct research for possible flights.

Of course, we could make ourselves stressed by worrying about this possibility, but we have decided to go about our lives, knowing that we’ll be leaving in five months. No doubt, we’d be concerned for the friends we’ll have left behind and how they will function in such a dire situation. It’s beyond our comprehension.

There’s always hope on the horizon, as described in the article below from this site (text copied verbatim):

US Government warning about Eskom — time to think about total grid collapse

Jan Vermeulen20 January 2023

The United States Government has advised its stakeholders in South Africa to start thinking about disaster management plans for a total collapse of Eskom’s power grid.

Although a blackout remains unlikely, the risk has increased due to how unreliable Eskom’s coal fleet has become. This is evident by the higher levels of load-shedding South Africa is experiencing. The consequences of a total blackout would also be devastating, making it worth preparing for even if the likelihood is low. The US Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) convened a meeting with stakeholders last week to discuss business security concerns surrounding Eskom and load-shedding.

Representatives from several large US-based corporations with operations in South Africa and large local companies participated in the meeting. MyBroadband has viewed a recording of the meeting. After speaking to one of the participants, we learned they were all asked to agree to the Chatham House Rule.

It should be noted MyBroadband was not a party to the agreement. However, we chose not to identify any participants by name to avoid them being punished for speaking their minds. A US Government minerals and energy expert focusing on South Africa said that they are still not very worried about a total blackout.

He was looking for a place to get into some mischief!

“I have a lot of faith in Eskom System Operators. I think they really know what they’re doing,” they said.

“But when you start to get this level of load-shedding, and the amount of power plants that are tripping, I think it’s something we need to start thinking about.”

They said that although a total blackout presents several dangers, the primary threat is the time it takes to bring a system back up from that total collapse.

“Eskom estimates, in the best case scenario, it would take 6–14 days to restart the power grid,” the official said.

South Africa’s grid topology makes a “black start” like this challenging because it’s so spread out and because Eskom is in a power island.

“There are a few feeder lines from other countries, but not enough to help with a black start situation,” the US Government official said.

“To start one unit at Medupi would require a 60-megawatt generator. It’s massive power to get a Medupi unit started.”

Citing an Eskom presentation, they said the power utility believes there would be looting and civil unrest if the grid collapses. They quoted an unnamed individual as saying, “What’s left after a blackout would be what was left after a civil war.”

The official emphasised that Eskom was talking about the ruinous consequences of a blackout to illustrate why load-shedding is critical. Eskom has repeatedly explained that load-shedding is necessary precisely to prevent a total collapse of the grid. Gauteng residents may have an advantage over the rest of the country due to the density of the electricity network in the province. However, the US Government official said Eskom would not confirm how long it would take to bring Pretoria back online after a blackout.

Eskom has publicly stated that it would have to restart the system in islands, beginning with the interior network.

“I think our power in Gauteng would come back faster, but that’s just supposition,” the official said.

Constantly on the lookout for food and being very strong, they’ll overturn and destroy anything they think may provide an opportunity

Network outages, water shortages

Major considerations for organisations developing blackout plans is the eventual failure of South Africa’s telecommunications networks, and water and fuel shortages. The official said Eskom told them in 2021 that mobile sites would be available for 2–4 hours, and to expect telecommunications backbone failure within 8 hours. They acknowledged that this information was old and the backup power situation had likely improved since then.

Based on feedback MyBroadband has received from South Africa’s network operators, fibre networks will be able to operate for some time, provided that data centres and Internet exchange points can remain powered. However, batteries at cellular sites will start running empty after 4–6 hours, severely impacting mobile communications in South Africa.

This baboon didn’t find any opportunities for destruction in our garden.

“Water reserves would be severely impacted. There would be no sewage pumps,” the US Government official warned.

“Data centres and power stations could run out of water.”

While there are 48-hour water guidelines for municipalities, they don’t all have them.

“Liquid fuel would be a challenge for everybody. Eskom would [also] have a hard time getting liquid fuel to their [open-cycle gas turbines],” they said.

All they had done was leave several pits from marula trees and other fruits on the veranda.

The US Government warned attendees that they would be unable to rely on South Africa’s national security structures as they would be stretched too thin. One attendee from a major South African financial institution added to this, saying that any disaster management plan could not rely on the government at all.

“If any mitigation plan has any reliance on the state, you’ve got a very poor mitigation strategy in place,” they said.

All of us here in South Africa continue with a high level of frustration over the ongoing power outages. Right now, as I write this, the power is out, and it’s not during a period of scheduled load-shedding. An outage isn’t scheduled until 1:00 pm, 1300 hrs. After researching online, it appears there is a problem at the “Main sub in Komati. Eskom locals on site, waiting for Eskom people from Nelspruit to assist.”

It could be hours before we have any power today.  Since we got the new clothes dryer over a week ago, we’ve yet to have a single load that can dry fully. We’re back to hanging clothes on the rack. TIA. Life in the bush.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 21, 2022:

Last night, Tom spotted the porcupine at the edge of the veranda. We were shocked when it didn’t run away when we opened the door and the screen, allowing me to take these three photos. What a thrill! For more photos, please click here.

We figured out what bit me…Yikes!!!…Work has begun on visa extentions…

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Frightening-looking nest in the laundry area. It’s now gone, gone, gone, thanks to Vusi! What a relief!

This morning when I asked Tom to carry the heavy laundry basket outdoors to the laundry area so I could do a few loads, he returned to the house to tell me to get the camera and be prepared to run. I had no idea what he meant. In those few seconds it took me to get there, I thought it might be a snake or some other exotic creature.

As it turned out, it was a hornet’s nest of some sort, which I’d seen on several occasions but thought it was dead. As I snapped the photo, they started to swarm, and we hightailed out of there as fast as we could. Tom managed to squirt a few shots of Doom but not enough to kill them all.

Vusi just arrived, and he’ll figure it out as he often does. With both of us allergic to bees, we couldn’t take any chances trying to do it ourselves. I know what stung me since I felt the bite in that outdoor laundry area. It had to be a bite from one of those ugly things. Yuck!

Torn Ear stopped by last evening. We hadn’t seen him in a few months. Note his bad right ear.

I am hesitant to go to the laundry area since a few strays may be flying around. I’ve decided to wait a day to go back there, hoping that Vusi’s removal of the nest and spraying of the general area may have driven any strays away. I did get the photo, but it’s blurry, as shown, since my hands weren’t steady when I took the shot. Ugly things, aren’t they?

We realized we needed to be more diligent in checking our surroundings for nests. We’re pretty good about looking for snakes and scorpions but haven’t been as conscientious in looking for nests in ceilings and near baseboards. However, we have inadvertently spotted a few that Vusi or Zef removed.

Tom spotted two nests inside the house on a baseboard a few days ago. This was on the weekend, and we didn’t want to wait for Vusi or Zef to come on Monday. He sprayed the nests thoroughly, waited a while, and then scrapped the nests off of the baseboard. We keep checking the area to see if they returned. So far, so good.

Octomom and her eight piglets. Amazingly, they all stay together day after day. She’s such a good mom.

This morning I received the comprehensive list of documents we need to submit to the law firm to commence the visa extension process. Since I had started compiling a few of the docs already, we had a good start on it. By Monday, after we sign a few documents, Louise will print; we can sign them and then scan them using the handy new scanning app we added to my phone called Mobile Scanner. It’s the best scanner app we’ve ever used in the past.

Tom wrapped up the flight details this morning from MPQ (Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger) to EDI (Edinburgh, Scotland). We got a PDF document from Expedia to submit with our other documents. Also, we must have a booked flight out of South Africa by the time our new visa extensions end, which, if granted, will end on June 8, 2023.

We prefer not to include bank statements, but South Africa’s Immigration requires all requests for extensions to include a recent bank statement illustrating that the applicants have sufficient funds to sustain them during the additional time they spend in the country. Also, the bank statement must show both names of the applicants, or a marriage certificate would be required. Fortunately, our bank accounts show both of our names.

A female zebra stopped by this morning without any companions. Tom thought she looked pregnant.

Once we submit all of these documents and more, we’ll still have more to do, including paying additional fees of about ZAR 1000, each, US $58 which the law firm will process for us. Plus, they will prepare the online application, which we will review later. The total cost for the extension including legal and governmental fees will be about ZAR 24152, US $1400, which is a lot less than flying to Zambia or another non-bordering country to attempt to get another visa stamp.

After an almost two-week hiatus, we’ll return to Jabula for dinner. We’re looking forward to seeing Dawn and Leon and hearing about their holiday in Mozambique and Swaziland over the past eight days. It will be fun to return to our usual weekend dining spot.

We hope all is well with you and your loved ones.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 20, 2022:

The sounds from the Go-Away birds sound like “go away.” For more photos, please click here.

Photos from 10 years ago…Comments from readers regarding yesterday’s whiney post…

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Our ship, the Celebrity Century as it went under the Bridge of the Americas, soon to be demolished in 2014 when the new locks open in 2014. A newer bridge, the Centennial Bridge, will be considerably higher to accommodate huge ships.

Note: Today, we’re including photos from ten years ago in January 2013, of our transit through the Panama Canal, for the first time. See the post here.

When our readers read our posts, they often don’t see comments made by other readers on previous posts. Today, we’re sharing two comments posted after yesterday’s post here. When comments are posted at the end of any post, I can review them before posting them, adding our response.

Long ago, we wrote that we don’t care to post negative vitriol, bullying, and “hater-type” comments. Fortunately, over the past ten-plus years, we haven’t received more than a handful of such comments, a few of which we’ve mentioned here anonymously. We may reveal the first name of a commenter but never list last names, email addresses, or personal information.

A container freighter ahead of us in line to enter the first set of locks, the Miraflores Locks.

After writing for so many years, we aren’t as sensitive about receiving negative comments. Still, we feel it is important to post comments that may not agree with our lifestyle or how we handle situations. Let’s face it, there’s no rule book on how to live as nomads, although thousands have written books and articles on their personal experiences.

When we read some of these articles and a few books, we found the author’s experiences are very similar to ours. Even recently when we met readers/friends Lisa and Sam (and their friends Karen and Stan, also world travelers), it was ironic how alike our experiences have been, including locations, joyful and meaningful events, and of course, an endless stream of trials and tribulations. Living this life is fantastic, but it, like everyday life, has its ups and downs.

Yes, yesterday’s post was whiney by any standards. I hesitated to take it to the degree I had, but once my fingers started flying over the keyboard, I couldn’t seem to change my attitude sufficiently to take a different turn.

The opening of one of the double set of gates at the locks.

Funny, today it’s even hotter with a high of 104F, 40C with constant high humidity. Yes, we still have all that “paperwork” hanging over our heads that we’re chipping away at bit by bit. But it is a new day, and with that often comes a new attitude and a new sense of getting through it all with grace and ease.

Below are two of the comments we received after uploading yesterday’s post:

  1. Our reader/friend Bob wrote:

“Whining is a much-needed release nothing wrong with it, especially the trial and tribulations you sometimes endure be safe, be happy, be healthy.”

Our response:

Bob, thanks for your support. Wherever one may live in the world, there are challenges. We empathize with all of you in Minnesota and many other states where residents are dealing with excessive amounts of snow, and frigid temperatures, creating hardships and risks for all. Our issues are not unlike yours, just a little different.

Thanks for writing once again.

2. Our reader/friend Karen wrote:

“Come back to the US. Buy an RV and wander Mexico and South America. Might be fun with less hassle.”

Our response:

“Karen, thanks for your input, and we appreciate your comment. Traveling through Mexico is not the safest place at this time, as is the case in many parts of South America as is the case in many countries, including our own US. Also, owning and maintaining an RV does not appeal to us. It’s a different lifestyle than ours. Like everyone else, there are challenges wherever they may live in the world. In our attempt to always “tell it like it is.” Yesterday’s post expressed the frustration that we freely shared with our readers. To pretend that all is ideal during challenging times would be unfair to our readers in painting an unrealistic picture of this nomadic and home-free lifestyle.”

Here I am perched atop our viewing area at the bow of the ship, in air-conditioned comfort. We reserved these excellent seats at 5:15 am!

Avoidance of discomfort and ease of living is impossible regardless of how hard we may try. For example, I apply insect repellent three to four times each day and again before going to bed, and yet, I awoke this morning with no less than 20 new bites, many of which will itch for two or three weeks. The same thing would happen when we lived in Minnesota and spent an evening outdoors in the summer wearing repellent.

Retirees living year-round in Arizona, unable to afford a separate home in a cooler climate in the summer, often experience temperatures much higher than we’re experiencing now. Summer in Nevada, our state of residence, is ultra hot in the summer months, comparable to the temps we have today. No, their humidity doesn’t compare to ours in the bush, but it still feels like stepping into an oven when heading outdoors.

We were exhausted after an early start on the long day of Panama Canal viewing, but joyful and grateful for the experience. All we needed was a good night’s sleep.

Then, we consider that 13% of the world’s population doesn’t have access to electricity. In South Africa, 11% of households don’t have electricity. Load-shedding is not an issue for any of these people. But, then again, it’s all relative. As much as we feel sad for those denied essential utilities, it doesn’t prevent those of us in South Africa, without power as many at 11½ hours a day, from complaining.

Yesterday, the water ran out when Tom was taking a shower. He was unable to wash the soap off his body. The reservoir runs dry when there is lots of load-shedding, as there’s been over the past many months.

Sure, we could spend a small fortune on a motorhome to tour the US. But in that case, we could also run out of water, fuel, WiFi, electricity, and modern conveniences. Plus, the maintenance, repairs, emptying the head, adding water, and frequent driving don’t appeal to us by any means, let alone the added cost of parking at campsites and paying for supplies, fuel, and groceries along the way. Our cost of living in South Africa, compared to an RV lifestyle, is about 60% less.

If our visa extensions are approved, we’ll leave the bush in a mere five months, not to return for about a year.

To sum it up, yes, we may whinge some more over these hot summer months in Africa, getting more bites, dealing with more annoying paperwork, more power and water outages, and whatever else might come our way. But, if we lived in a nice, cool senior high rise in any city in the US, surely we’d find something to whinge about there. Human nature.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 19, 2022:

Vultures, on the lookout, for possible prey for possible carrion. For more photos, please click here.

Whining today…Please bear with me…

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This is duiker Derek who visits several times a day.

Note: We couldn’t post more photos today due to a WiFi outage and using my phone’s WiFi as a hotspot.

This morning I spent no less than an hour on the phone with the credit card insurance claim company for our missing bag from November 24. They had sent me several emails requesting more information, such as my relationship with Tom, asking we send in our marriage certificate. Ridiculous!

Why would we carry our marriage certificate with us when we’ve been married for 28 years? Our passports should be all that’s needed to prove we are a married couple. And isn’t that discriminatory to some degree? Would we be unable to file a claim if we weren’t married? Does marital status determine eligibility for anything these days?

With some coercing, I managed to get them to waive that requirement. Next, they insisted on a copy of our homeowner’s insurance policy that may cover the lost bag. How would we have a homeowners insurance policy if we don’t own a house? I’d explained this fact in detail when I filed the claim, but it, too, fell on deaf ears.

Then they wanted proof that Ethiopian Airlines hadn’t already reimbursed us. How do you get evidence that you didn’t get something when they too aren’t responding to our tiny claim, submitted almost two months ago, only allowing for a maximum of US $800 for lost luggage?

Then, they didn’t like the format for which I sent in the 22 receipts via PDF documents. PDF is the universal standard for sending documents by email. How ridiculous is this? I asked what preferred document type she did not know. Oh, good grief.

They are doing everything they can to cause us to give up and not file the claim. We wondered how complicated this process would be for travelers without computer/online experience and no one to help them. Surely, they’d give up in no time at all, saving
the insurance company thousands of dollars in claims each year.

Even as adept as I am in handling this stuff, I was at my wits end this morning, sitting at the dining room table with a fan blowing hot, humid air over me, offering little relief at 92F, 36C with the dew point at 67%, wasps flying in the house with the doors wide open, my eyes itching and nose running from hayfever which I can’t seem to get under control and all the yucky stuff
over the phone, especially when the phone signal keeps going out.

Now, for the past two hours, we’ve had no WiFi signal, and I am typing this post using Notepad, wondering when and if I’ll be able to upload it sometime today. I sent a Whatsapp message to the internet provider, using the pricey WiFi on my phone, but I had to leave it on to get a response from them, costing more money. Hmmm, it’s not my favorite day.

Soon, we’ll receive an email from the law firm with instructions for the online work we need to do to apply for the extension. This requires hours online with one document after another, including bank statements, copies of investments, reason letters explaining why we want to stay, passport-type photos, and on and on. Hopefully, the WiFi will be back soon enough to get
all of these tasks were completed on time.

Last night’s load-shedding lasted from 11:00 pm, 2300 hrs, to 5:30 am, then went off again at 7:00 am until 9:30 am. It got scorching in the bedroom during that long stretch, and I was awake most of that time. I couldn’t do anything on my phone to help the time pass when the WiFi was out most of the night. The internet provider blames the outage on load-shedding when the batteries that supply the lines die.

We could leave if we wanted to, but after the losses we’ve incurred since Covid, we really feel we need to stay here until we plan to go in June. Each month we stay here, we save thousands of dollars since living here is relatively inexpensive. We looked into staying in and around Europe while we waited for our August cruises, but the cost to do so was two to
three times more than what we pay here.

Besides, on regular days, we’re pretty content. If we weren’t, I assure you, we’d leave, regardless of the cost. We can take the heat, humidity, and insects, but when we have that and no power and no WiFi, plus endless hours required to be online for forms and documents, it’s definitely causing me to do some whining today.

This afternoon at 4:00 pm,1600 hrs, the caterer is coming to help us decide on the menu for my upcoming birthday party on February 25. I changed the date from a week earlier since Lousie and Danie are going to Cape Town, returning on the 20th, the actual day of my birthday. But I wanted to accommodate those guests who work during the week and have the party on a Saturday, which works well for most.

Tomorrow is another day and hopefully a little more pleasing to my tastes. Sorry about the whining. Sometimes, life can be challenging for all of us, and a little whining doesn’t hurt anybody.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 18, 2022:

Elephant carrying her trunk on her tusk. Early elephants had tusks, and one idea is that as tusks became longer, it was harder and harder for elephants to get their mouths to the ground to reach the grass. The trunk on their tusk helps them to reach more food and to eat more in a shorter time. For more photos, please click here.

One dreaded task accomplished…Two more pending…

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This was the first time we saw the baby drinking fresh water from the birdbath while mom and dad stood to the right.Tom refills the birdbath daily, and many animals drink from it.

Completing the insurance claim for our lost bag has been hanging over my head for weeks. Bit by bit, I worked on finding every receipt for the items in the bag, which was tricky and time-consuming. Once I found all the receipts, I realized the format they were in from Amazon and other shops would not be satisfactory for the insurance company. Plus, they weren’t in PDF format and were not easy to submit.

I thought about this in the middle of the night weeks ago and found a great phone app I mentioned earlier called Mobile Scanner. They had a free version I tested, but the paid version was 100% more efficient. I bit the bullet and paid the annual fee of $39.99, knowing I could use this repeatedly. The ease of use is fantastic and better than other scanning processes I’ve tried over the years.

This Big Daddy spent the entire afternoon with us.

If I find that I won’t use it much later on, I can avoid renewing it. Still, for now, I desperately needed it to complete the time-consuming and cumbersome insurance claim for our lost belongings, available through the credit card we used to purchase the airline tickets with Ethiopian Air.

No, I couldn’t find all the receipts, but based on the fact we use Amazon.com so much, I found 90%. Once I found the receipt at Amazon, II went to the print invoice tab, used the scanner to scan it from my laptop, downloaded and saved it as a PDF document, and placed each receipt, numbering each one in a folder on my desktop.

Kudus prefer to reach up to eat over bending over to graze on grass and to eat human-offered pellets and treats.

Once done, I sent in the receipts via email in batches of five since often too many attachments prevent an email from going through, as we all know. Now, we wait and see what happens. I doubt they’ll ask us to complete more time-consuming tasks, but at least I submitted the claim on time. We’ll see how it goes.

Also, today, we’re waiting to hear back from the law firm in Cape Town regarding our next step in filing our visa extension. Most likely, it will be setting up our file online with South African immigration, which is another confusing and time-consuming process.

This morning Bossy ate no less than 12 marulas that dropped from the trees. She’d eat the fruit and then spit out the pits. Very cute.

Once we’ve got both of these tasks under control, we’ll begin the process of applying for new passports using online services. We’ll do that part soon and begin the paperwork once the old passports are received. In any case, we’ll have to mail in our old expired ten-year passports to the online service company using FedEx or DHL, which should take several weeks to get to the company in the US.

Fortunately, we still have our four-year passports with over a year remaining. The reason for the urgency in getting new ten-year passports is that the cruises we have booked for August require no less than six months remaining on existing passports. At that point, we’ll only have five months remaining.

The humidity today is brutal and will only worsen as the week progresses. Today will be the coolest day of the week, and right now, while sitting by the veranda door at the dining room table, I am soaking wet in sweat. I have the portable fan blowing on me, but with 4½ hours of load-shedding in the works right now, the fan’s power is limited. The power will be back on in two hours or less.

Bossy and her marula pits. She is “with child.” Yesterday, we saw the little one kicking and tried to take a video, but we missed the opportunity.

As for the animals, we are in heaven. They are all back, particularly Norman, Nina, and the baby, who stop by many times each day. Norman and Nina are so loving to one another and to their little one. It is the cutest thing to watch. Plus, we’ve had an endless stream of kudus (many Big Daddies) and pregnant Bossy, bushbucks, duikers, and a variety of warthogs. It’s been quite fun!

The electrician is here all day but working outdoors to wire the house for the newer and bigger inverter, which will be ready to use by the end of the month. This will change our lives. We are grateful to Louise and Danie for tackling this hugely expensive project.

A little fun is needed amid all this dreadful “paperwork.” Can’t wait to put all of this behind us so we can relax, enjoy our day-to-day, and spend more time visiting Kruger National Park. It’s been quite a while since we’ve gone to Kruger with all the holidaymakers booking appointments to get inside the park. We prefer to enter on quieter days.

That’s it for today, folks. Have a fantastic Monday. Sorry about the Minnesota Vikings’ loss in the playoff games, another disappointment for loyal fans, including Tom and our kids and grandkids.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 16, 2022:

This is a side-striped jackal, another less frequent sighting we were delighted to encounter. The side-striped jackal is a canine native to central and southern Africa. Unlike the smaller and related black-backed jackal, which dwells in open plains, the side-striped jackal primarily dwells in woodland and scrub areas. For more photos, please click here.

Load-shedding nightmares…Its only going to get worse…Eskom is out of resources…Unwelcomed guests in our house…

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This was the first time ever that Norman and Nina’s baby jumped the fence. Very skittish that even tossing some pellets made her/him run.

When a single electric company supplies a nation, its people are subject to its ups and downs, regardless of the inconvenient consequences. After decades of corruption, poor management, and neglectful maintenance resulting in endless breakdowns of systems countrywide, South Africa’s Eskom is dying fast, leaving its customers in the lurch.

Here is an article that simplifies the situation at Eskom.

How long this country can hang on with limited power supplies is baffling and uncertain. Already countless businesses have ceased to operate without much-needed power supplies. This has particularly impacted the small businesses that don’t have the resources to install solar power. In the next few years, solar energy will be necessary for businesses and private residences to function correctly.

Tulip was close by while Lilac was outside the little fence.

This morning I had laundry to do, but by the time I got up, there was barely enough time to do two loads, so we stuffed everything into the one washer, leaving our white socks. I have hardly been able to use the dryer with load-shedding up to 11½ hours a day,  But for us, it’s relatively easy. What about a household with six children or immobilized senior citizens?

What about the small businesses trying to function using a diesel-powered generator with the cost of fuel so high? Yesterday in this post, we wrote about the new system we’ll have by the end of January. But that’s just “lucky us” having fantastic landlords/friends that appreciate the daily challenges and are willing and able to provide us with solutions. What about
everyone else?

Bossy stops by several times a day. She is expecting another little one.

Every Friday and Saturday night at Jabula, we see their struggles running a generator to keep their food fresh and drinks cold for the never-ending stream of hungry and thirsty customers. Last night and Friday night, with Jabula closed for eight days for a holiday break for Dawn and Leon; we witnessed this same dilemma at Bos Restaurant and Giraffe. We sat at the bar in 90F, 32C weather with high humidity with no air-con to cool the customers and staff.

But it’s no different for us when we stay home and sit outside on the veranda. The heat is sweltering in the summer months, and the humidity only makes it worse. It’s challenging to get used to it, regardless of how much we try to be resilient and tough, like many locals.

A lot of senior citizens live in Marloth Park on a meager income, unable to afford to pay for air-con if they had it, let alone generators or solar power installations, which can range from ZAR 150,000, US $8,924 for a small house to as much as ZAR 300,000, US $17,848 or more for a larger home.

Three zebras stopped by.

Once that big chunk is paid for a solar installation, the operational costs are low, but expensive batteries must eventually be replaced. There’s no easy answer, and low-income households cannot afford the upfront expense.

On days like today, when it’s so hot and humid, preserving our food is the biggest concern. We grocery-shopped for two weeks, purchasing little meat and lots of vegetables since I’ll make various stir-fry dishes over the next week. These meals require less meat than a meat and vegetable dinner, making more sense during the load-shedding periods, often at dinner.

We are careful in keeping meat fresh and less concerned about the small amount of dairy we keep in the refrigerator, primarily sour cream, hard cheeses, and cream cheese which we keep on hand for making keto dishes and salad dressings. These all seem to survive the outages ok for far.

Bossy spends a lot of time looking at us. Hmmm…I wonder why?

As for the unwelcome guests in the house, this morning, Tom noticed three bee hives inside the house in the dining room on a lower baseboard, close to where I often sit. This morning, he sprayed them and removed the three nests, respraying them so they won’t return. It’s no wonder I was stung last Saturday. Also, on Friday night, Tom stepped on a bat in the kitchen and accidentally killed it. Fortunately, he was wearing shoes. He would never have killed it on purpose.

That’s our story for today, folks. Tom is entrenched in NFL playoff football games while I stay busy working on projects. Tomorrow, I will wrap up the insurance claim for Tom’s missing bag and begin working on the forms for the visa extension.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 15, 2022:

Couples from left to right, Gerhard and Rita, Tom and I, Danie and Louise, and Rita’s sister Petr and husband Fritz. The eight of us had gone on a night game drive ending in dinner in the dark in Kruger National Park. It was pretty fun! For more photos, please click here.

Friday the 13th…No superstitions here!…Visa extension is in the works with the law firm…

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Big Daddy, handsome as ever standing close to us.

Today is Friday the 13th. We don’t give it a thought other than to mention it when it occurs. How did this superstition ever start anyway?

Here’s some information from History.com that explains the potential origins of this often feared day of the month:

“Long considered a harbinger of bad luck, Friday the 13th has inspired a late 19th-century secret society, an early 20th-century novel, a horror film franchise, and not one but two unwieldy terms—paraskavedekatriaphobia and friggatriskaidekaphobia—that describe the fear of this supposedly unlucky day.

The Fear of 13

Just like walking under a ladder, crossing paths with a black cat, or breaking a mirror, many people hold fast to the belief that Friday the 13th brings bad luck. Though it’s uncertain exactly when this particular tradition began, negative superstitions have swirled around the number 13 for centuries.

While Western cultures have historically associated the number 12 with completeness (there are 12 days of Christmas, 12 months and zodiac signs, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 gods of Olympus, and 12 tribes of Israel, just to name a few examples), its successor 13 has a long history as a sign of bad luck.

The ancient Code of Hammurabi, for example, reportedly omitted a 13th law from its list of legal rules. Though this was probably a clerical error, superstitious people sometimes point to this as proof of 13’s longstanding negative associations.

Fear of the number 13 has even earned a psychological term: triskaidekaphobia.

READ MORE: What’s So Unlucky About the Number 13?

Why is Friday the 13th Unlucky?

According to biblical tradition, 13 guests attended the Last Supper, held on Maundy Thursday, including Jesus and his 12 apostles (one of whom, Judas, betrayed him). The next day, of course, was Good Friday, the day of Jesus’ crucifixion.

The seating arrangement at the Last Supper is believed to have given rise to a longstanding Christian superstition that having 13 guests at a table was a bad omen—specifically, that it was courting death.

Though Friday’s negative associations are weaker, some have suggested they also have roots in the Christian tradition: Just as Jesus was crucified on a Friday, Friday was also said to be the day Eve gave Adam the fateful apple from the Tree of Knowledge, as well as the day Cain killed his brother, Abel.”

Friday the 13th occurs 2 times in 2023
Three Fridays the 13ths last took place in 2015 (February, March, November) and will next happen in 2026. So this year, in 2023, there are two Fridays the 13ths (January and October).”
So pretty mom Begonia and baby Buttercup stopped by again today.
We aren’t superstitious, although I hesitate to walk under a ladder; from a logical viewpoint based on the fact that something or someone could fall. Tom has no superstitions whatsoever.
So here we are on Friday the 13th. Jabula is closed until the 20th so that Dawn, Leon, and their staff could have some holiday time when they worked so hard during the holiday season. Funny, I ran into David in the vegetable section at Spar yesterday. We gave each other our usual warm hug and smiled warmly, happy to bump into each other in produce. He was glad to have over a week off to recover from the busy establishment this past six weeks.
We paid the legal fees yesterday and signed the contract to have the Cape Town law firm represent us in obtaining a visa extension. By Monday, we’ll receive a list of the documents we must procure to have the application submitted for approval by March 9.
According to the lawyers, our concern about filing 60 days before the visa expires was unnecessary. We have plenty of time. But once again, what appears on certain governmental websites may not be “cast in concrete.” Filing through the law firm will still require us to drive to Nelspruit to apply, and two, pick up the actual visas for our passports when they are tendered. Each trip will be about a four or five-hour turnaround.
Bossy, the kudu from our last house, two kilometers from here, stops by several times a day. It appears she is pregnant again.
Hopefully, in both cases, our appointments will be early enough in the day that we don’t have to stay overnight in Nelspruit since there’s no way it’s safe to drive on the N4 after dark.
Since Jabula is closed until the 20th, tonight we’ll go to dinner at Bos Restaurant in the Bush Centre, and tomorrow night, we’ll head to Giraffe, both of which are a short drive down the road. The menu selections in both restaurants are tricky for me to order, with most foods “crumbed” and deep fried. But as always, I’ll figure something out. I can’t ever order a bunless hamburger after I discovered all mince (ground beef) delivered to restaurants in Marloth Park contain wheat as a filler.
Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 13, 2022:

Last year on this date, we celebrated Rita’s birthday at the Khaya Umdani house, owned by Louise and Danie, where we’ll celebrate my birthday in February. I made this keto chocolate cake for Rita. For more, please click here.

An injured young beauty…Extended load shedding hours…Preparing for our Zoom TV appearance in the US

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This sweet young zebra has an injured back right leg and arrived alone to check out the food situation.

It’s a beautiful day! The high today will only be 90F, 32C, with moderate humidity and dew point. Perfect! Load shedding started at 11:00 am and will last until 3:30 pm, 1530 hrs. With Stage 6 load shedding occurring over the next few days, we decided we’d grocery shop at around 12:00 pm, so by the time we return with the groceries, the refrigerator will soon almost be running again. This is always a consideration when shopping for food.

There will be another 4½ hour stint tonight at 7:00 pm, 1900 hrs., until 11:30 pm, 2330hrs. So far, so good. These extended periods are only a concern to us regarding keeping our perishables in the refrigerator from spoiling. The only times we’ve lost food to spoiling was when there were more extended outages, often for eight to ten hours or longer, sometimes for days.

There are many reasons her leg is bleeding. It could have been an altercation with another animal, a bit she scratched on a tree until her leg bled, or an escape from one of the eight hungry lions in Marloth Park.

When we shop, we buy very little meat, nor do we purchase any pre-made foods or salads. One has no idea how long they may have been sitting in the case at the market. Food spoilage doesn’t seem to be a problem when we place some perishable items into the chest freezer for extended outages. Our simple trick of putting a huge metal bowl in the refrigerator filled with ice seems to make a huge difference in keeping the refrigerated items safe to consume after four-hour outages or longer.

But, it doesn’t hurt to use a thermometer to determine that food in the refrigerator hasn’t been stored for more than an hour or two at 40F, 4.4C or lower. See this article here for details.

This afternoon around 4:00 pm, 1600 hrs., the KSTP TV show’s producer, who will interview us via Zoom, will contact us to do a test and confirm Zoom is working well in this area. They want to ensure we don’t have connectivity problems at the time of the live interview in a few weeks.

She was sweet and gentle when she stopped by this morning.

Once this is done, it will give us peace of mind. Our recent WiFi issues have been resolved, especially since most holidaymakers have left the park. It’s been easy to stream our favorite shows at night and for Tom to watch the NFL football games on his laptop during daytime hours. The playoffs are on the horizon. We’ll see how well the Minnesota Vikings do during these final games.

This morning, a pretty young female zebra stopped by the garden alone. Most often, zebras visit in groups called a dazzle. Sometimes there are two zebras, but most often, we see four or more. The fact she was alone made us wonder why. Then we noticed blood dripping down her right back leg. It appeared to have been injured, but it was difficult to determine the cause or extent of the injury.

Also, Tom mentioned he’d seen her recently, and half of her tail was missing. This could have been a birth anomaly or a fight with another animal. Zebras are ferocious when fighting, using their back legs for bone-shattering kicks. Also, we considered that she may have managed to escape from the jaws of one of the eight lions in Marloth Park, injuring her leg and biting half of her tail. We’ll never know.

Nina and Norman are so in love. He’s always so happy to be with her, as seen on the look on his face.

We gave her lots of pellets and cold chunks of carrots, which she seemed to enjoy. We’ll keep an eye out for her and see how she progresses. We hope she’ll recover soon and be reunited with her family unit.

When I got up this morning, Norman and Nina were in the garden. It’s been great to see them again over the past few days. I’d made a big bowl of “Norman’s Lunch,” and he willingly shared the contents with Nina. We didn’t see the baby, but surely she was somewhere nearby. I say “she” but have no confirmation that it’s a she yet, but we’ll keep watching so I can name her.

Begonia and Buttercup…a new little bushbuck and her mom that visit us daily.

We’ve been watching an entertaining Amazon Prime series the past few nights, Tom Clancy’s “Jack Ryan.” You may enjoy this show if you’re a fan of international intrigue and espionage. It’s included with Amazon Prime if you already have the streaming service.

At noon, we’re heading to Komatipoort to do our shopping which usually takes about an hour plus another hour of round-trip driving time. We should be back by 2:00 pm, 1400 hrs., when we’ll put everything away and place ice in the metal bowl in the refrigerator until the power returns 90 minutes later or sooner.

Have a lovely day!

Be well!

Photo from one year ago today, January 12, 2022:

What a night it was in the bush! These fantastic creatures stopped by after we’d left some bones out after dark. Genets are carnivores. For more photos, please click here.

Wow! It was two years ago today that we left India after spending 10 months in lockdown in a hotel room!…Reliving the past two years…

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Notice the genet in this trail cam photo taken at 1:27 am.

We’ve certainly had some ups and downs over the past few years, but that is true for most of us who have survived the pandemic. For many of us, we sadly lost loved ones, while many of us managed to recover from Covid-19, albeit with long-haul symptoms for some. I am grateful to finally recover from an awful bout of Omicron with symptoms that lingered for eight months, from April to December 2022. Whew!

Today, we are reminded that we traveled from Mumbai, India, to Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger, South Africa, taking 2½ days. I recall being so grateful to be here that neither of us was very tired when we arrived.

Notice the giraffe bent over in this trail cam photo.

We’ve left several times over the past two years for a new 90-day visa stamp. Here’s what we’ve done in each case since our arrival in January 2021, keeping in mind that each time we go to our “home country,” we can re-enter South Africa without incident.

Two Big Daddies stopped by before we were outdoors, looking for pellets.

January 2021: We started a new 90-day visa. We self-quarantined for 11 days upon our arrival. Louise grocery-shopped for us so we could cook our meals during the quarantine period.

April 2021: We had booked a tour to Kenya for a few weeks, but then Kenya closed its borders, and we had to cancel everything. At that point, South African immigration provided free 90-day extensions without application to travelers already here.

July 2021: Traveled to Minnesota to get vaccinated and see family. We returned to South Africa with a new 90-day visa since we were coming out of the US.

October 2021: Traveled to Zambia and Botswana for one week, receiving new 90-day visas upon our return.

January 2022: Visa extensions were applied for and received for a new 90-day period with the law firm’s assistance in Cape Town, South Africa.

March 2022: We traveled to the US, sailed on a cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Southampton, and got Covid on the ship on April 20, having to cancel the next cruise we’d booked, losing our money. Stayed in the US for several weeks. We returned to South Africa with a new 90-day visa since we were coming out of the US.

May 2022: We returned to South Africa with a new 90-day visa since we were coming out of the US.

August 2022: Traveled to Zambia and Botswana for a week and received a 90-day visa (with dissatisfaction from the immigration officer that stated, “you are border-hopping.”

November 2022: A failed trip to Seychelles due to government regulations at the last minute resulted in our traveling to the US. Returned to South Africa in December for a new 90-day visa, expiring on March 9, 2023

March 2023:  Currently working with the same law firm in Cape Town, hoping to receive another 90-day visa extension. Once received, we’ll be able to stay until early June, when we’ll leave South Africa for about a year to embark on other travels.

A better view of the giraffe in the middle of the night on the trail cam photo.

We had sent the request for the extension process, including the necessary documents to get started on December 22, allowing ample time for the law firm to get our file started. The country now has a requirement that applications for extensions must be submitted within 60 days of the current visa expiration date, but it also states on other sites that it’s 45 days. On some government sites, it says the 60-day period allows ample time for processing. So, now we are waiting to hear from the law firm today that applying will be acceptable.

Trail cam photo. Nina stopped by early in the morning a few days ago.

There’s always a Plan B. In the worst-case scenario, we can fly to Newark, New Jersey, one of the closest US airports, spend three or four days and then fly back here for another 90-day visa. We are prepared to do this if necessary or if our request for an extension is denied for some reason.

My arm continues to improve. Last night, I slept for a much-needed nine hours. It feels good to be rested to this extent, and now without the lingering Covid-19 symptoms, I feel better today than I have since last April before we got Covid. Tom is doing great as usual and is content to spend the better part of each day on the veranda, watching US football and reviewing his other interests.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 11, 2022:

Two years ago today, I was wearing my N-99 mask, face shield, and gloves continuously during the entire 2½ days of travel from Mumbai, India, to Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger Airport. The post may be found here. For the year-ago post commemorating this date the previous year, please click here.

This morning, a surprise like none other!…It’s almost over…

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Two female kudus eat pellets off the veranda railing so they don’t have to compete with Hoppy’s mom and her two pesky piglets.

When Vusi arrived to clean this morning, I heard Tom talking to him in the driveway while I sat at the table on the veranda,  asking him, “Do you need help carrying that?” I had no idea what he was talking about.

Moments later, Tom called out to me, “Come see! There’s something here you’ll love!”

I bolted out of my chair so fast I almost tipped it over to find Vusi in the outdoor laundry room plugging in a relatively new clothes dryer. It’s small, as shown in the photo below. It will be perfect for our needs. We won’t use it to dry heavy items like jeans and sweatshirts, but we certainly can use it for our clothes, especially things that wrinkle. We will be mindful of not using too much electricity, as we are when using any electrical appliances.

This little dryer is perfect for us! Thanks, Louise and Danie, for this appreciated addition to our household.

I couldn’t text Louise quickly enough to thank her for the dryer. She knows how much this means to us. It changes how we wear our clothes, always concerned with the limited number of items we have and how long it will be until we can wear something again that may have been sitting in the laundry basket for four or five days. Plus, we’ll avoid mildew on wet items such as dish towels, hand towels, and washcloths.

This could be a mom and her fast-growing daughter.

On another note, we’ve counted the days until the end of the school holidays in South Africa. Today is that day, and already our garden has been packed with a wide array of wildlife since early this morning. Sure, a few tourists still linger, including those with or without children who may be coming this weekend for a few days, which is always the case anyway.

This morning for the first time in weeks, a band of mongooses arrived with several tiny babies in tow, which were surely born in the past few weeks. Getting a photo of the babies is tricky since they stay tucked under their moms and are very skittish. I was able to get this one less-than-ideal photo this morning to show you their minuscule size.

See the little one? We couldn’t believe we hadn’t seen mongooses over the past several weeks. The holidaymakers may have been feeding them their leftover braai meats and bones that kept the mongooses away from us. When we cook meat on the braai, it is mostly lean with few bones. This morning I cut up a good-sized portion of paloney for them, which they devoured in seconds. Surely, we’ll see them regularly once again.

Nina and her calf walked by this morning, whom we’d hardly seen lately. But with Hoppy’s mom and her two remaining piglets in the garden, she didn’t bother to stop. Piglets can be very annoying and aggressive with antelopes, zebras and other wildlife. Of course, piglet moms are also very aggressive in trying to protect their youngsters.

I am so excited that my bee sting is rapidly on the mend. The redness and swelling are almost gone, and the itching is under control with the ice pack every few hours, followed by a new application of Calamine lotion. Whew! I am relieved this is almost over. I got stung in the outdoor laundry room, so now, on laundry days, Tom will spray the area with Doom before I enter to do the wash, which will be more often than in the past with the addition of the dryer.

Two Big Daddies were also eating off of the railing.

Last night, it was fantastic to get a night’s sleep since I could finally sleep on my left side. I only had to get up once to reapply the Calamine lotion but easily went back to sleep. This morning I felt alert and enthused, ready to get back to work on some of the three tasks upcoming over the next few weeks: apply for the visa extension, apply for the renewal passports, and finish Tom’s insurance claim for his lost bag, which has yet to appear.

Now that I am feeling better, we can start the research. This will be a lot of work, but we must address these tasks. As for our passport renewal, it appears we must make an appointment at the US Embassy in Pretoria, requiring we make the five-hour drive, possibly twice, once to apply and another time to pick them up two to four weeks later. We’ll most likely have to stay in a hotel for a few nights to accomplish this.

Several female kudus and their youngsters eat pellets off the railing.

That’s all the news for today, folks. We’ll be back with more tomorrow as we continue taking more photos of the returning wildlife.

Be well.

Photo from one year ago today, January 10, 2022:

Definitely, not as clear as we’d like. We were thrilled to see these two Meller’s Mongoose on the trail cam last night. For more photos, please click here.